Friday, July 10, 2009
Uncategorized Summer of Green Lantern, 1: The feature film?
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 3:17 PM
Batman and Superman can't be expected to save the world -- or Hollywood and the publishing industry -- on their own. For years Warner Bros. and DC Comics have struggled to find another superhero from their roster to become a crossover, big-screen success.
Apparently The Green Lantern has been tapped as the latest costumed crusader to get a shot at the major leagues. Possessed of a power ring that enables him to fly, shoot lasers and cool stuff like that, Green Lantern protects the Earth and surrounding planets as a member of a kind of intergalactic police force. As a guy in tights who depends on a ring, Green Lantern falls prey to teasing from the likes of Jerry Seinfeld and The Onion ("When You Are Ready To Have A Serious Conversation About Green Lantern, You Have My E-Mail Address").
Lots of "heat" surrounds the character in the summer of 2009, partly for the straight-to-DVD animated film Green Lantern: First Flight due July 28, and partly for DC's sprawling comic book event "Blackest Night," written by Geoff Johns, which begins soon and will last for months. (Watch this space for more on those later.) The biggest news surrounds plans for a feature film, The Green Lantern, which will may begin filming this fall and has a tentative release date of July 17, 2011.
So far The Green Lantern lacks an actor in the title role. Rumors have been circulating for a while, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has narrowed down its top three choices to Ryan Reynolds (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) and singer Justin Timberlake (um... The Love Guru? A voice in Shrek the Third?). This ingenious fan trailer proposes another actor in role. Even non-geeks can have fun trying to spot how many other films gone into the making of this one:
The Green Lantern still fall through, though. The studio pulled the plug on the Justice League film, to have been directed by George Miller (The Road Warrior), right before filming. Supposedly Common had been cast as Green Lantern in that version (Green Lantern being a "position" held by various people, including test pilot Hal Jordan and ex-Marine/architect John Stewart).
Fortunately, The Green Lantern has a tested, A-list director attached: Martin Campbell, who relaunched Zorro with Antonio Banderas and twice rebooted James Bond, first with Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye, then with Daniel Craig in the superb Casino Royale. It's also a good sign that Hollywood seems to be interested in emulating the success of smart, grown-up superhero flicks like Iron Man and The Dark Knight. For the time being, Campbell's attempt at the Emerald Avenger has, uh, a green light.
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